The Overrated 404 Challenge

I went and tried out the famous 404 Challenge. The game was set to 'Hard' and I followed all the forum's rules, no torches, spelunking only, the whole nine yards.

I had three chunks of the cave under my control within five minutes. The only challenge I saw was evading the Creeper waiting for me at the end of the chute. I'm gonna try it again sometime soon, but instead I'll jump into the gravel upon the world's birth. Meaning I'll have nothing but the pixels on my back.

Notch have mercy...